It's quite another to hear the distinctive voice of Bravehart's William Wallace screaming that she should just shut up and give him oral sex. During the rant, Gibson also appears to confirm striking her while she was holding their child, which could result in more police charges.

Tawdry as it feels to hear such explicit insults -- knowing that someone likely sold the tapes to Radar Online for a pretty penny -- it also makes Gibson's past apologies for explicit curses sound pretty hollow. Assuming, of course, this audio hasn't been edited, altered or otherwise massaged to make him look unfairly awful.

And crass as it sounds, it seems these tapes also might kibosh whatever hopes Gibson had for resurrecting his film career after the awful tanking of Edge of Darkness. Already, Gibson's talent agency William Morris, has dropped him, though cynics suggest that's because his star had faded so badly even before the tapes became public.

As much as Hollywood may want to do business with him, it becomes awfully difficult to stand by someone who has hurled such terrible slurs at women, Jewish people, black people and Hispanics. (Of course, the Swiss also announced today they would not extradict director Roman Polanski to America for charges related to a 30-year-old unlawful sex case, so wealth and fame can still keep you out of the hoosegow).

It is yet another slow-motion disintegration of a once-great Hollywood figure, served up by a gossip website with an explicit detail that is both compelling and gut-churning.